Sant Martí is the part of the city built for space: the quieter northern beaches, big modern parks, the Fòrum esplanade with its adventure park and bathing zone, and Poblenou's old industrial grid turned family neighborhood. Easy to reach on the L4 and the tram, and rarely as crowded as the center.
MASiMAS Festival 2026 continues through August with contemporary jazz, soul, afrobeat, Latin jazz, and big band performances across several emblematic Barcelona venues. The remaining program features the Cuban Jazz Syndicate (May 30), the Gramophone Allstars Big Band (June 11), and Compota de Manana (August 29), staged in spaces such as Jamboree, Tarantos, La Pedrera, and Palau de la Música.
The Museum of Natural Sciences offers a curated selection of board games focused on natural sciences, with educators on hand to explain rules and help visitors choose age-appropriate games. Games cover diverse aspects of the natural world and vary in duration and complexity. Drop-in format; no reservation required.
Each family tackles a unique scientific challenge, working through observation, questioning, hypothesis formation, evidence interpretation, and conclusion-drawing. The workshop explores planetary natural diversity through hands-on investigation of specimens like snails from Montjuïc, interconnected organisms, unknown powders and liquids, and historical samples. Sessions run 45 minutes with facilitator guidance.
Extreme Barcelona returns to Parc del Fòrum for its 18th edition with over 500 athletes from 40 countries competing across 11 urban sports disciplines, including BMX, skateboarding, scootering, breaking, 3x3 basketball, street football, surfskate, and fitness. Entry is free all weekend. Beyond the competitions, the open parks put pump tracks and mini ramps within reach of kids and beginners, with urban art workshops, live music and DJs, a market, and food trucks rounding out the three-day program.
Poblenou's September neighborhood festival features strong kids' programming including gegants (giant figures), castellers (human towers), and a closing correfoc (fire run). Run by the Coordinadora d'Entitats del Poblenou, the event takes a family-friendly approach with a more accessible tone than similar festivals in the city.
Llum BCN is a light-arts festival spanning the Poblenou district with large-scale installations by international artists, design schools, and architecture programs. The walkable outdoor route features works at kid eye-level across streets and squares, with installations at venues including DHub, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Pompeu Fabra University, and Can Framis Museum. The festival runs alongside the Festes de Santa Eulàlia.
Mar Bella is one of Barcelona's eastern beaches, in the Sant Martí district just past Bogatell. It's a wide, mostly local stretch of golden sand that stays calmer than the busier beaches closer to the center, with a gentle slope into the water and a promenade running behind it. There's little natural shade, so bring an umbrella in high summer. The beach is a hub for sport: the municipal Base Nàutica de la Mar Bella rents kayaks and stand-up paddleboards and runs sailing and windsurfing courses, and there are beach-volleyball nets, ping-pong tables, and a skate park right behind the sand. The eastern end of the beach is a designated nudist (clothing-optional) area, so families with kids usually settle toward the Bogatell side. In the summer bathing season there are lifeguards, showers and foot showers, an accessible bathing point, and chiringuito beach bars.
Westfield Glòries sits beside Torre Glòries (the old Agbar tower), a redesign by Javier Mariscal who scattered bright kinetic sculptures across its car-free plazas. More than 100 shops, a Carrefour and an El Mercat food court ring the pedestrian squares, which have trees, benches and water features. A VOSE cinema screens original-version films, and Glòries metro (L1) is a five-minute walk.
A 14-hectare modern park near the Fòrum, threaded by a snaking steel structure that carries water to the gardens, with a central lake and trencadís-mosaic planters. Its signature feature is a set of giant slides built into a grassy hill, wide enough for a parent and child to ride together, plus two playgrounds, football, basketball and a skating area.
Barcelona's second-largest park spreads 14 hectares around a big lake, with looping steel tubes that hold mosaic plant pots and spray a fine mist over the water. The headline draw for kids is the Muntanya Màgica, a hill of wide stainless-steel slides you ride two at a time, plus two playgrounds, a skate area, and basketball courts. Paths run all the way down to the beach.
Barcelona's natural science museum fills a tilted blue building by Herzog & de Meuron at the Fòrum. The Planeta Vida exhibition traces the history of life on Earth, and La Terra Avui displays around 4,500 specimens, from insects to large dissected mammals, minerals, and fossils. A free-access lobby holds the shop and the Niu de Ciència, a hands-on nature space for ages 0 to 6.
The Fòrum's enclosed saltwater bathing zone sits right on the seafront esplanade, a calm, wave-free stretch of sea penned off from the open water. You get in by steps and ladders into water that is deep from the edge, so it suits kids who already swim rather than paddling toddlers. Lifeguards watch the zone through the summer, and the flat decking makes it easy to lay out towels, though there is almost no natural shade, so bring your own cover, water, and sandals for hot ground. It is a few minutes from the L4 metro at El Maresme | Fòrum, and easy to fold into a day that takes in the adventure forest and playground on the same esplanade.
Barcelona's newest big park, opened in 2025 on the once traffic-choked Plaça de les Glòries, with around 1,000 young trees linking the Eixample, Poblenou and Sant Martí under the Torre Glòries. The heart of it for families is a play area of nearly 2,000 m² for ages 0 to 12, with about 35 play elements, tall metal slides built into the old Olympic traffic ring, climbing nets and soft rubber surfacing, plus a summer water-play zone. There are also ping-pong tables, basketball hoops and a hectare of open lawn for picnics and running.
One of the city's largest malls, right by the sea near the Fòrum, with more than 200 shops and the Ilusiona bowling and arcade complex, all fully air-conditioned. The standout for families is Un Mar de Jocs, a free supervised play room with Montessori-style sea-themed activities, plus the open-air Terrassa del Mar with a nautical play park and the lighthouse-shaped El Far climbing structure.
A huge paved seafront esplanade built for the 2004 Universal Forum, anchored by a tilted photovoltaic pergola the size of a football pitch raised on stilts. Kids come for the Bosc Urbà rope-and-zipline adventure forest, the enclosed saltwater Zona de Banys with step access for confident swimmers, and summer kayak and paddleboard sessions at the marina.
A bowling and arcade center on the top floor of the Diagonal Mar mall, run by Ilusiona. It packs lit bowling lanes with bumpers, next-generation arcade and ticket-redemption machines, VR driving and space-battle simulators, and a large space-themed soft-play park for younger kids. Air-conditioned, with a bar and birthday party rooms.
Experience Barcelona from 125 meters up at Torre Glòries, the city's third-tallest building. The visit starts underground in an interactive museum of cutting-edge technology and a floating art installation, then takes you up by elevator to the 30th-floor lookout for complete 360-degree views — from the Mediterranean to the Sagrada Família to Montjuïc. Thanks to the tower's circular shape, the panorama is uninterrupted. If you're up for it, add the Cloud Cities Barcelona experience, a walk-through floating artwork by Tomás Saraceno (extra cost, with physical requirements). A digital audio guide in 10 languages helps keep kids engaged.
Barcelona Bosc Urbà is an aerial adventure park under the giant solar canopy at Parc del Fòrum. Two harnessed rope circuits run five meters up: 14 family challenges with barrel tunnels, wobbly bridges and zip lines, plus 15 tougher sports challenges. A netted high-altitude trampoline zone and a food truck with monitor-led kids' games complete the park.
A refurbished play area behind the Museu Blau, built from tall wood-and-steel towers that read like a cross between a castle and a rocket. The centerpiece links them by bridges and stairs, with a long spiral stainless-steel tube slide and a steel climbing pyramid, alongside separate zones for younger children. It sits right by the sea, so there is almost always a breeze.
Set inside Jean Nouvel's shade-focused park, this is a scatter of small play areas rather than one big structure. The most popular is a molded grassy mound with a slide built into the slope, alongside sand pits, swings and climbing frames. Between the zones, kids explore the park's quirks: a path that spirals down into a crater-like sandpit and ivy archways that feel like secret tunnels.
Built on old railway workshops, this park keeps the factory bones: a line of stone arches ends in a waterfall over a small lake, brick pillars stand like ruins among the trees, and a high metal walkway runs above a sunken sports court. There are three playgrounds for different ages, grassy hills to climb and ping-pong tables, a short walk from Clot station.
Barcelona's easternmost and newest beach, opened in 2006, stretching about 375 meters of wide sand at the far end of the seafront below Diagonal Mar. It has lifeguard towers, showers, public toilets, and wooden walkways out toward the water, plus a beach volleyball court at the western end. A fenced dog-bathing area runs along the northern stretch through the summer.
Bogatell is a 702-meter Blue Flag beach between Nova Icària and Mar Bella, rebuilt as part of the 1992 Olympic seafront redevelopment. Wide, flat sand makes it easy for strollers and toddlers; the sea entry is shallow and gentle. Facilities include a children's play area, beach volleyball and football, two ping-pong tables, showers, adapted toilets, and a supervised assisted-bathing service for visitors with reduced mobility. Lifeguards cover the main bathing season daily from 10:30 to 19:30.
The city's municipal sailing school sits on the Port Olímpic marina, built for the 1992 Olympic sailing events. Kids learn dinghy sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, and paddleboarding from qualified instructors, working up through the small Laser Pico and RS Zest boats. Summer Campus Olímpia weeks rotate eight water activities plus snorkeling and English, and there are year-round courses and children's parties.
Sant Martí is the part of the city built for space: the quieter northern beaches, big modern parks, the Fòrum esplanade with its adventure park and bathing zone, and Poblenou's old industrial grid turned family neighborhood. Easy to reach on the L4 and the tram, and rarely as crowded as the center.
MASiMAS Festival 2026 continues through August with contemporary jazz, soul, afrobeat, Latin jazz, and big band performances across several emblematic Barcelona venues. The remaining program features the Cuban Jazz Syndicate (May 30), the Gramophone Allstars Big Band (June 11), and Compota de Manana (August 29), staged in spaces such as Jamboree, Tarantos, La Pedrera, and Palau de la Música.
The Museum of Natural Sciences offers a curated selection of board games focused on natural sciences, with educators on hand to explain rules and help visitors choose age-appropriate games. Games cover diverse aspects of the natural world and vary in duration and complexity. Drop-in format; no reservation required.
Each family tackles a unique scientific challenge, working through observation, questioning, hypothesis formation, evidence interpretation, and conclusion-drawing. The workshop explores planetary natural diversity through hands-on investigation of specimens like snails from Montjuïc, interconnected organisms, unknown powders and liquids, and historical samples. Sessions run 45 minutes with facilitator guidance.
Extreme Barcelona returns to Parc del Fòrum for its 18th edition with over 500 athletes from 40 countries competing across 11 urban sports disciplines, including BMX, skateboarding, scootering, breaking, 3x3 basketball, street football, surfskate, and fitness. Entry is free all weekend. Beyond the competitions, the open parks put pump tracks and mini ramps within reach of kids and beginners, with urban art workshops, live music and DJs, a market, and food trucks rounding out the three-day program.
Poblenou's September neighborhood festival features strong kids' programming including gegants (giant figures), castellers (human towers), and a closing correfoc (fire run). Run by the Coordinadora d'Entitats del Poblenou, the event takes a family-friendly approach with a more accessible tone than similar festivals in the city.
Llum BCN is a light-arts festival spanning the Poblenou district with large-scale installations by international artists, design schools, and architecture programs. The walkable outdoor route features works at kid eye-level across streets and squares, with installations at venues including DHub, Teatre Nacional de Catalunya, Pompeu Fabra University, and Can Framis Museum. The festival runs alongside the Festes de Santa Eulàlia.
Mar Bella is one of Barcelona's eastern beaches, in the Sant Martí district just past Bogatell. It's a wide, mostly local stretch of golden sand that stays calmer than the busier beaches closer to the center, with a gentle slope into the water and a promenade running behind it. There's little natural shade, so bring an umbrella in high summer. The beach is a hub for sport: the municipal Base Nàutica de la Mar Bella rents kayaks and stand-up paddleboards and runs sailing and windsurfing courses, and there are beach-volleyball nets, ping-pong tables, and a skate park right behind the sand. The eastern end of the beach is a designated nudist (clothing-optional) area, so families with kids usually settle toward the Bogatell side. In the summer bathing season there are lifeguards, showers and foot showers, an accessible bathing point, and chiringuito beach bars.
Westfield Glòries sits beside Torre Glòries (the old Agbar tower), a redesign by Javier Mariscal who scattered bright kinetic sculptures across its car-free plazas. More than 100 shops, a Carrefour and an El Mercat food court ring the pedestrian squares, which have trees, benches and water features. A VOSE cinema screens original-version films, and Glòries metro (L1) is a five-minute walk.
A 14-hectare modern park near the Fòrum, threaded by a snaking steel structure that carries water to the gardens, with a central lake and trencadís-mosaic planters. Its signature feature is a set of giant slides built into a grassy hill, wide enough for a parent and child to ride together, plus two playgrounds, football, basketball and a skating area.
Barcelona's second-largest park spreads 14 hectares around a big lake, with looping steel tubes that hold mosaic plant pots and spray a fine mist over the water. The headline draw for kids is the Muntanya Màgica, a hill of wide stainless-steel slides you ride two at a time, plus two playgrounds, a skate area, and basketball courts. Paths run all the way down to the beach.
Barcelona's natural science museum fills a tilted blue building by Herzog & de Meuron at the Fòrum. The Planeta Vida exhibition traces the history of life on Earth, and La Terra Avui displays around 4,500 specimens, from insects to large dissected mammals, minerals, and fossils. A free-access lobby holds the shop and the Niu de Ciència, a hands-on nature space for ages 0 to 6.
The Fòrum's enclosed saltwater bathing zone sits right on the seafront esplanade, a calm, wave-free stretch of sea penned off from the open water. You get in by steps and ladders into water that is deep from the edge, so it suits kids who already swim rather than paddling toddlers. Lifeguards watch the zone through the summer, and the flat decking makes it easy to lay out towels, though there is almost no natural shade, so bring your own cover, water, and sandals for hot ground. It is a few minutes from the L4 metro at El Maresme | Fòrum, and easy to fold into a day that takes in the adventure forest and playground on the same esplanade.
Barcelona's newest big park, opened in 2025 on the once traffic-choked Plaça de les Glòries, with around 1,000 young trees linking the Eixample, Poblenou and Sant Martí under the Torre Glòries. The heart of it for families is a play area of nearly 2,000 m² for ages 0 to 12, with about 35 play elements, tall metal slides built into the old Olympic traffic ring, climbing nets and soft rubber surfacing, plus a summer water-play zone. There are also ping-pong tables, basketball hoops and a hectare of open lawn for picnics and running.
One of the city's largest malls, right by the sea near the Fòrum, with more than 200 shops and the Ilusiona bowling and arcade complex, all fully air-conditioned. The standout for families is Un Mar de Jocs, a free supervised play room with Montessori-style sea-themed activities, plus the open-air Terrassa del Mar with a nautical play park and the lighthouse-shaped El Far climbing structure.
A huge paved seafront esplanade built for the 2004 Universal Forum, anchored by a tilted photovoltaic pergola the size of a football pitch raised on stilts. Kids come for the Bosc Urbà rope-and-zipline adventure forest, the enclosed saltwater Zona de Banys with step access for confident swimmers, and summer kayak and paddleboard sessions at the marina.
A bowling and arcade center on the top floor of the Diagonal Mar mall, run by Ilusiona. It packs lit bowling lanes with bumpers, next-generation arcade and ticket-redemption machines, VR driving and space-battle simulators, and a large space-themed soft-play park for younger kids. Air-conditioned, with a bar and birthday party rooms.
Experience Barcelona from 125 meters up at Torre Glòries, the city's third-tallest building. The visit starts underground in an interactive museum of cutting-edge technology and a floating art installation, then takes you up by elevator to the 30th-floor lookout for complete 360-degree views — from the Mediterranean to the Sagrada Família to Montjuïc. Thanks to the tower's circular shape, the panorama is uninterrupted. If you're up for it, add the Cloud Cities Barcelona experience, a walk-through floating artwork by Tomás Saraceno (extra cost, with physical requirements). A digital audio guide in 10 languages helps keep kids engaged.
Barcelona Bosc Urbà is an aerial adventure park under the giant solar canopy at Parc del Fòrum. Two harnessed rope circuits run five meters up: 14 family challenges with barrel tunnels, wobbly bridges and zip lines, plus 15 tougher sports challenges. A netted high-altitude trampoline zone and a food truck with monitor-led kids' games complete the park.
A refurbished play area behind the Museu Blau, built from tall wood-and-steel towers that read like a cross between a castle and a rocket. The centerpiece links them by bridges and stairs, with a long spiral stainless-steel tube slide and a steel climbing pyramid, alongside separate zones for younger children. It sits right by the sea, so there is almost always a breeze.
Set inside Jean Nouvel's shade-focused park, this is a scatter of small play areas rather than one big structure. The most popular is a molded grassy mound with a slide built into the slope, alongside sand pits, swings and climbing frames. Between the zones, kids explore the park's quirks: a path that spirals down into a crater-like sandpit and ivy archways that feel like secret tunnels.
Built on old railway workshops, this park keeps the factory bones: a line of stone arches ends in a waterfall over a small lake, brick pillars stand like ruins among the trees, and a high metal walkway runs above a sunken sports court. There are three playgrounds for different ages, grassy hills to climb and ping-pong tables, a short walk from Clot station.
Barcelona's easternmost and newest beach, opened in 2006, stretching about 375 meters of wide sand at the far end of the seafront below Diagonal Mar. It has lifeguard towers, showers, public toilets, and wooden walkways out toward the water, plus a beach volleyball court at the western end. A fenced dog-bathing area runs along the northern stretch through the summer.
Bogatell is a 702-meter Blue Flag beach between Nova Icària and Mar Bella, rebuilt as part of the 1992 Olympic seafront redevelopment. Wide, flat sand makes it easy for strollers and toddlers; the sea entry is shallow and gentle. Facilities include a children's play area, beach volleyball and football, two ping-pong tables, showers, adapted toilets, and a supervised assisted-bathing service for visitors with reduced mobility. Lifeguards cover the main bathing season daily from 10:30 to 19:30.
The city's municipal sailing school sits on the Port Olímpic marina, built for the 1992 Olympic sailing events. Kids learn dinghy sailing, windsurfing, kayaking, and paddleboarding from qualified instructors, working up through the small Laser Pico and RS Zest boats. Summer Campus Olímpia weeks rotate eight water activities plus snorkeling and English, and there are year-round courses and children's parties.